VIDEO: Understanding the Distinction: Penetration vs. Permeation in Protective Apparel Testing

Learn the important difference between permeation and penetration in evaluating the performance of PPE.

Watch time: 2:05 minutes

Supplier: DuPont

Posted date: Mar 01, 2024

Looking for full transcript of video? Read now

In this video, DuPont will explore an important distinction that safety professionals should understand—the difference between penetration and permeation in protective apparel. Penetration is a test method that determines whether substances physically pass through a protective barrier. Permeation assesses whether hazardous chemicals can pass through the barrier material over time. For instance, if you have a bag with gasoline inside that doesn't leak due to the barrier, that's penetration. However, with permeation, you might detect the smell or feel the chemical seeping through over time. When dealing with hazardous chemicals in the workplace, it's vital to consult a manufacturer's permeation database. This database ensures that protective apparel, like boots or coveralls, effectively shields your workers from hazardous materials.

Previously Featured on DuPont's YouTube channel.

Video Transcript

Good Day!

In this video, we are going to briefly talk about the difference between penetration and permeation.

Difference between permeation and penetration

Both of those terms are used to describe test methodologies that manufacturers use to evaluate the performance of the protective apparel, whether it is chemical-resistant gloves, boots, coveralls, aprons, whatever.

Chemical protective apparel manufacturers popularly stating penetration and permeation data, those two terms are not synonymous.

It is very important as a safety professional to understand the difference between them. What I am going to do is I am going to use a baggy to try and illustrate the difference between them. So what is penetration?

Penetration

Penetration is a test methodology to figure out whether material will physically pass through a barrier of some kind. So I got a little bit of water in this bag. That's penetration!

It's a great test to figure out whether a closure system or a membrane is going to physically keep something out. The problem is, that test doesn't tell me whether that chemical, it was water, if it was a hazardous chemical or whether it would actually get through that barrier material.

If I were to take the exact same baggy with gasoline in it, without a hole in it, the gasoline is physically not going to come out leaking out through the bag anymore.

Permeation

You won't be able to see it coming though it. Over a short period of time you will be able to smell it and if you touch the bag you have on your hands, that's permeation.

Importance of permeation database

If you got hazardous chemicals in the workplace you wanna make sure you are consulting a manufacturer's permeation database, not penetration data, to confirm that the chemical PPE whether it’s gloves, whether it’s boots, whether it's a coverall, that particular protective apparel you are putting on your workers is going to actually hold that hazardous material up.

DuPont has a very extensive permeation database. You will find it online on their SafeSPEC™ website.